'Once
was made at home in Lincolnshire. It was a very enjoyable album to
make. I had left EMI for the second time but this time I had the wherewithal
to continue making records and I was in a much better frame of existence
than on the first parting.

The album was made in part
to capture a more live sound, the kind of sound that you would hear
if you came to see a gig. Most of it worked and I was very pleased
with it.

It has been said that the whole
effect of the record is one of a greater maturity, but that was written
by someone who had been looking at the cover photo for too long. I
considered 'The Black Cloud of Islam' long and hard before I committed
it to record because there is a possibility that it could be construed
as racist, which I am certainly not. During my life I have done everything
possible to promote racial equality. The thin thread that was holding
my tongue, (with respect to Islam), broke when Pan Am flight 232 went
down over Lochabie in Scotland.

I am pretty fundamental myself,
but I wouldn't kill children under any circumstances.

The dismantling of the Berlin
Wall with such celebration enabled me to write a dedication to peace
called 'Berliners'. I will always remember these times with great
affection. In 1990 my life was pretty good.

There are a couple of good
love songs and an album dedicated to social insights, with performances
by Kate Bush, Terry Cooke, Mark Feltham, Tony Franklin, David Gilmour,
Nick Harper and Mazlyn Jones. A very substantial album.

A companion video was made
for release at about the same time as the album, but is not in the
same class. It was made on an icy night in late November, with the
theatre open to the elements at the rear to accommodate the TV crew,
and it shows. Someone should have told me to smile, after all, that's
one thing that I'm quite good at.